Introduction to German Literature and CultureFall 2015

Mark W. Roche M W F 12:50 - 1:40German 30204 305 O’Shaughnessy Hall

Description

What are the major developments in the literary and cultural history of German-speakingEurope? Who are the significant figures and what are the greatest works in the German tradition?How do these figures and works relate to one another? What themes permeate the tradition? Howare they like or unlike what one sees in other cultures? Are there distinctive and definingcharacteristics of the German tradition? What are the most productive and compelling questionswith which to approach a work of literature or culture?

These and related questions will be explored in this class. Students will read, discuss, andanalyze selected texts representing prose, poetry, and drama. The will also be exposed to thevisual arts, music, film, and philosophy. They will become familiar with fundamental techniquesof approaching and interpreting works, which will help prepare them for more advanced courses.

We will survey a number of figures and works, dwelling longer on a few. We will read in itsentirety one of the best known works in all of German literature, Lessing’s Enlightenment dramaNathan der Weise, a work that even today is part of German public discourse. We will read ashortened but otherwise unaltered version of the greatest work of German literature, Goethe’sFaust. We will dwell on what is arguably the most revolutionary drama in German history,Büchner’s Woyzeck, which will be complemented by our traveling to Chicago to see AlbanBerg’s opera version of the story. Please mark your calenders for a matinee performance onSunday, November 1. In addition, we will read many shorter pieces and will explore, partlytogether, partly on the basis of student initiative, works of broader German culture.

Context

German literature and culture is arguably peerless in its richness. What are some of its variousfacets?

No country has a greater tradition of environmental philosophy and politics than Germany. Theterm “ecology” was coined in 19 -century Germany. The German environmental movementth

dates back to the 19 century, which is also when Germany introduced the world’s first natureth

preserve. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger was the first thinker to understand our useof technology and our treatment of the environment as a metaphysical problem, and the mostpowerful Green party in the world is Germany’s Green party.

Also in the social sciences the German tradition has been remarkable. Some of the early

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precursors of anthropology as a social science were German, including Gottfried Herder andAlexander von Humboldt. Many well-known figures in American and British anthropologystarted their careers in Austria or Germany, including Franz Boas, who is known as the father ofAmerican anthropology. The study of anthropology in Germany is partly enriched by the traditionof philosophical anthropology, which developed in the 18 century and has remained ath

distinctive element of the German tradition.

Wilhelm Wundt, a German, pioneered the world’s first experimental psychology lab. SigmundFreud, an Austrian, was the father of psychoanalysis. Carl Jung, a Swiss, founded analyticalpsychology. The study of psychology in Germany is partly animated by the country’s richtradition of philosophical anthropology.

Max Weber is arguably the most towering figure in the history of sociology. Among the mostprominent sociologists of the 20 century, one would include the early German sociologiststh

Ferdinand Tönnies and Georg Simmel; more recently Arnold Gehlen; various members of theFrankfurt School, including Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, and JürgenHabermas; and other contemporary figures such as Norbert Elias, Niklas Luhmann, and RalfDahrendorf. AlthoughGerman sociologists use the same quantitative tools as Americans, many ofthem are more philosophical in orientation and so offer a great complement to the dominantAmerican tradition.

The most significant revolution in higher education took place in Germany at the beginning ofthe 19 century. Led by developments in Halle, Göttingen, Jena, and Berlin, the Germanth

universities inaugurated the modern research university, introducing the unity of teaching andresearch, academic freedom, and Bildung. They also strengthened two essential principles ofhigher education: the intrinsic value of knowledge and the unity of knowledge across disciplines. No other country has had as great an influence on American higher education.

In the visual arts, Mathias Grünewald painted one of the most memorable and well-knowncrucifix scenes in the history of art. Albrecht Dürer was the greatest artist of the NorthernRenaissance. Caspar David Friedrich is arguably the most fascinating Romantic painter of alltime. German Expressionism was one of the greatest art movements of the 20 century. And th

Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter are among today’s most prominent living artists. The mostfamous architectural movement in the 20 century was the Bauhaus movement, whichth

inaugurated modern architecture.

In a New York Times ranking of the ten greatest composers of all time, a majority were German,and the first four were German; in order they are Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven,Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Franz Schubert. Johannes Brahms was seventh and RichardWagner ninth. Among great German and Austrian musicians, one could also name GeorgeFrideric Handel, Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, Richard Schumann, Richard Strauss, GustavMahler, Paul Hindemith, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg.

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Germany represents one of the greatest literary traditions in all of world cultures. It is particularlyknown for its distinctive interweaving of literature and ideas. Thirteen Nobel Prizes in Literaturehave been awarded to German-language writers. Only English-language writers have receivedmore. The concept of “world literature” originated with Goethe.

A defining aspect of German literature is its deep integration of religious questions. This occursnot only with Catholic authors, such as Angelus Silesius, Johann Grimmelshausen, JosephFreiherr von Eichendorff, Franz Grillparzer, Annette von Droste-Huelshoff, Adalbert Stifter,Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Erich Maria Remarque, Alfred Döblin, Hermann Broch, ElisabethLanggässer, and Heinrich Böll, but also with Protestant writers, Jewish writers, persons with acomplex relationship to Catholicism, and skeptics. Among these one might name, for example,Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Hölderlin, Georg Büchner,Theodor Fontane, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke, Franz Kafka, and Gottfried Benn.

There have been great German, Austrian, and Swiss directors across the ages, many of whomlater had a presence in Hollywood, including F. W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch, WilliamWyler, Michael Curtiz, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, and Wolfgang Peterson. LeniRiefenstahl is arguably the greatest and most fascinating female director of all time. Perhaps thegreatest mirroring of cinema and history occurred in the Weimar Republic, where the greatGerman films capture much of the uncertainty of the age. In the second half of the 20 century,th

Rainer Werner Fassbinder is considered one of the greatest film directors from any culture.Among the greatest films of recent decades, a number are German, among them Florian Henckelvon Donnersmarck’s masterful Das Leben der Anderen. One of the most engaging multiculturaldirectors of our age is the German-Turkish director Fatih Akin. The study of film wassignificantly shaped by German film theorists, including the Hungarian-born Béla Balázs,Siegfried Kracauer, Rudolf Arnheim, and Lotte Eisner.

Aesthetics as a term and a discipline was invented by Germans in the 18 century. Only a smallth

number of great philosophers have made aesthetics central to their work, but the Germantradition is an exception: Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel, Friedrich Schelling, ArthurSchopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Theodor Adorno, and Hans-GeorgGadamer, among others, wrote extensively about art, literature, and aesthetics. The discipline ofart history was shaped more by Austrians, Germans, and Swiss than by scholars from any othertradition, including Heinrich Wölfflin, Ernst Gombrich, Hans Sedlmayer, and Erwin Panofsky.

The founder of the Reformation and the greatest Protestant theologian of all time is a German,Martin Luther. The greatest contributors to philosophical theology have been Germans,prominent among them G. W. F. Hegel. Any student of theology must wrestle with thehermeneutics of suspicion, which is dominated by Germans and Austrians: Ludwig Feuerbach,Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. Many of the greatest Catholic andProtestant theologians of the modern era came out of the German tradition, among them,Friedrich Schleiermacher, Rudolf Otto, Rudolf Bultmann, Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, ErichPryzwara, Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Not only is Pope

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Emeritus Benedict XVI, one of the great theologian popes of all time, but Pope Francis studiedtheology in Germany and quoted the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin, both in his first address tothe Cardinals and his first major interview.

The Germans Immanuel Kant and G. W. F. Hegel are arguably the greatest philosophers of themodern age. The prominent names in German-speaking philosophy are almost countless: MeisterEckhart, Nicholas of Cusa, Paracelsus, Jacob Böhme, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, GottholdEphraim Lessing, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schiller, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, FriedrichSchelling, G. W. F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, FriedrichNietzsche, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Edmund Husserl, Max Scheler, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger,Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Arnold Gehlen, Hans Jonas, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Karl-Otto Apel, and Jürgen Habermas. Notre Dame is home to arguably the best known contemporaryGerman philosopher of his generation, Vittorio Hösle, author of at least 25 monographs,including such major works as Hegels System and Moral und Politik as well as his recent andmuch acclaimed Kleine Geschichte der deutschen Philosophie.

Given such an array of wonderful artists, thinkers, and works, how should we proceed? We willcombine three strategies. First, we will explore briefly together a large number of German artistsand thinkers. Second, we will linger with a few works so that you are able to develop some of thefocused capacities that are signature elements of German higher education: the capacity to read awork closely and with attention to details. Third, students will be given opportunities to choosetheir own paths within German literature and culture and explore some topics on their own.

Learning Goals

1) Engagement with Great Works: Students will be able to discuss and analyze a selection ofgreat works along with basic literary concepts and relevant historical context. Students will growin their appreciation of the value of reading great works and asking great questions as part of alife-long process of continual learning. In so doing, they will cultivate their enjoyment of the lifeof the mind, building resources for the continued development of their inner world, and they willlearn to value complexity and ambiguity. In relating to these works and questions in a personalway, they will also recognize a strong relationship between their academic work and personallives.

2) German Cultural Literacy: Students will become familiar with a selection of important andinfluential literary texts from the German tradition, thus increasing their exposure to the kinds ofworks that have been part of most well-educated Germans’ repertoire across the ages. Inunderstanding, analyzing, and interpreting these works, students will also gain an indirectwindow onto selected aspects of German literary, social, and intellectual history.

3) German Language Skills: Students will advance in their ability to read, write, speak, andunderstand German. Through practice they will reinforce basic issues as well as improve theircapacity for mastery of the language, both spoken and written, and they will enhance their basic

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communication skills insofar as they accompany the organization and communication of theirthoughts.

4) Hermeneutic Capacities: Students will improve their skills in interpreting, analyzing, andevaluating literary and cultural works. They will develop their capacity to ask pertinent andinteresting questions and to argue for and against various interpretations. They will recognize theextent to which the parts and wholes of great works relate to one another.

5) Intellectual Virtues: Students will improve their capacities to process difficult materials,formulate clear questions, listen carefully and attentively, explore ideas through dialogue, andexpress their thoughts eloquently and persuasively. In pursuing these and other course goals,students will develop various intellectual virtues, such as perseverance, justice, intellectualhospitality, diplomacy, patience, curiosity, and wonder.

Principles of Student Learning

The course will be organized in accordance with several common-sense pedagogical principles,most of which were embodied already by Socrates and which have been given empiricalverification in our age:

• Active Learning: Students are not passive minds into whose heads content is to be poured.Students learn by becoming involved, asking questions, engaging in discussions, solvingproblems, defending positions, writing papers, in short, by energetically devotingthemselves to the learning process. Educators speak of active or student-centeredlearning. Students learn most effectively when they are actively engaged, not simplylistening or absorbing material. In fact simply taking an exam, even when you performpoorly, helps you to learn the material. Accordingly, this course will be student-centered,with considerable focus on student-student discussion, daily written contributions, andpaper topics chosen by students.

• Peer Learning: Students learn greatly from their peers, and we will do considerableamounts of group work. Indeed, the research shows that the student’s peer group is thesingle greatest source of influence on cognitive and affective development in college.

• Existential Engagement: Students learn more when they are existentially engaged in thesubject, when they care about the questions under discussion and recognize theirsignificance. If you volunteer in a soup kitchen, your course on the economics of povertytakes on a different meaning. If you spend a year in Berlin, German history and politicsbecome far more important to you. To that end and because of its intrinsic value, we willread these works not only to understand them in their own context, as interesting as thatis, but also to ask, to what extent they speak to us today. Can we learn not only aboutthese works, but also from them? That means relating these works to your pastexperiences, daily lives, and future aspirations, without falling into a purely subjective

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interpretation of the meaning.

• Intrinsic Motivation: Motivation plays a large role in learning. The best learning comesnot from external motivation, seeking external approbation and praise, but from intrinsicmotivation, from identification with a vision of wanting to learn.

• High Expectations and Feedback: Students learn the most when their teachers have highacademic expectations of them and when students receive helpful feedback that supportsthem in their quest to meet those high expectations. To know what you don’t know is tohelp focus your learning. A combination of being challenged and being supported helpslearning immensely. You can be sure that if the coach of an athletic team is nonchalantabout physical fitness, discipline, timing, teamwork, and the like, the team will not winmany games. So, too, an easy A will not help you in the long run, as you interview forhighly competitive postgraduate fellowships or positions at the best graduate schools orwith the leading firms. The best way to learn is to shoot high and to recognize what mightstill be needed to meet those high aspirations. Detailed feedback and discriminatinggrades are ways of pointing out strengths and weaknesses to students, challenging them tostretch, so that they are not lulled into thinking that their current capacities cannot beimproved, and they needn’t learn more.

• Effortful Learning: Many think that easier paths to learning make for better learning. Intruth, the evidence shows that easier learning is often superficial and quickly forgotten,whereas effortful learning leads to deeper and more durable learning as well as greatermastery and better applications. For example, trying to solve a problem before beingtaught a solution leads to better learning. Hard learning, making mistakes and correctingthem, is not wasted effort but important work; it improves your intelligence. Striving tosurpass your current abilities and experiencing setbacks are part of true learning, which,unlike superficial learning, develops and changes the brain, building new connections andincreasing intellectual capacities. For better learning, difficulties are desirable: the harderthe effort, the greater the benefit. For example, instead of simply reviewing notes on ourreadings, you might reflect on the reading: What are the key ideas? What ideas are new tome? How would I explain them to someone else? How does what I read relate to what Ialready know? What questions do I have? What arguments speak for and against a givenposition?

• Breadth of Context: If you put what you are learning into a larger context and connect itwith what you already know and are learning in your other courses, your learning will bedeeper and more stable. If you can connect a story, an idea, or a principle as you uncoverit to other stories, ideas, and principles or to what you yourself think, then the stories,ideas, and principles will more likely resonate for you in the future. In our class, seeingconnections across works as well as seeing connections between our discussions anddiscussions and works in other classes as well as your own life will help give you thatlarger context. The more you know, the more you can learn. Ask yourself, what larger

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lessons can be drawn from what I am exploring.

• Faculty-Student Contact. The greatest predictor of student satisfaction with college isfrequent interaction with faculty members. Students are more motivated, morecommitted, and more involved and seem to learn more when they have a connection tofaculty members. So take advantage of opportunities to connect with your teachers. Dropin during my office hours (come when you have a need or a question or simply when youwould like to chat). Take advantage as well of other opportunities we will find forinformal conversations. And don’t hesitate to ask for help.

• Meaningful Investment of Time: Students who major in disciplines that are lessdemanding of students’ time tend to make fewer cognitive gains in college. Everyonewho wants to learn a complex and demanding subject must make a substantial effort.Learning occurs not only during class time. It derives also from the investment you makein learning, the quality of the time you spend reading, thinking, writing, and speakingwith others outside of class. For this three-credit advanced course you will want to spendmore than six hours per week preparing. An advantage you have in this course is that theworks are challenging and fun, so your study can be work and pleasure simultaneously.

• Diversity: Another learning principle is diversity. When you discover that your roommateis Muslim, you suddenly become more curious about Islam. That is not especially likelyat Notre Dame, so we need to cultivate intellectual diversity, engaging works from othercultures and in languages other than English. We want to hear different perspectives fromone another, even the most unusual, since thinking outside the box can help us see moreclearly. Do not be shy about asking off-the-wall questions or making unusual comments.And don’t let contrary views bother you emotionally. All such contributions can beuseful, as the process of discovering truth involves listening to various perspectives. Inaddition, many of the works we will study introduce us to radically different world-viewsfrom our own, but precisely in their difference, they may provide interesting antidotes tosome of the cliches of the present.

• Self-Reflection: Students learn more when they are aware of how they best learn (so thatthey can focus their energies), what they most lack, and how they can learn more. Howcan I become a better student? How can I learn to guide myself? We may occasionallyhave meta-discussions in which we reflect on our discussion at a higher level. Aroundwhat central interpretive question did the debate we were just having revolve? Why didwe relinquish one interpretation and adopt another? How would we describe the evidencethat spoke for and against the various positions? Why was today’s discussion particularlysuccessful or less successful? What is helping us learn? The latter question underscoreswhy I have just placed these principles before you.

We will pursue each of these dimensions. Above all, your learning will depend on your activeengagement. To that end the following contributions to learning will affect the assessment of

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your performance.

Student Contributions to Learning and Assessment Guidelines

45% of the grade will be based on regular contributions, oral and written, during the semester.35% will be based on more formal written work during and toward the end of the semester,where you will be asked to perform at the highest possible level. 20% will be devoted toassessing at the end of the semester your comprehensive understanding of the material and yourattainment of learning goals.

You should have a good sense of your overall performance along the way, as approximately two-thirds of your grade involves your work during the semester, with approximately one-thirdreserved for your final paper and final exam.

1) Class Contribution: 20%;

Students will be expected to contribute regularly to discussions and adopt various facilitativeroles during the semester. Class contribution is not equivalent with the quantity of classparticipation; instead both quantity and quality will be considered. Because student learning isaided by active student participation in the classroom, students will want to prepare well andcontribute regularly and meaningfully to discussions.

After the review of the syllabus, the language for this class will be German.

Brief Presentations

Students will be asked to give at least one brief formal presentation, with a one-page writtenhand-out in German and oral delivery in German of approximately 5 minutes. The topics will bedistributed on a first come, first served basis and are to be delivered on the first day of ourdiscussion of the relevant author. Options are below.

LessingGoetheSchillerHölderlinNovalisCaspar David FriedrichHeineBüchnerMarxAlban BergNietzscheKafka

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BrechtMannBenn (to be delivered on the day we devote entirely to Benn)

In lieu of a presentation, I need two students to co-lead one student-led session.

For your presentations, there are some basic expectations. • If you go over eight minutes, I will stop you midstream. Discipline in delivery is a virtue,

so do not be surprised. • Do not read your text; instead learn to speak from notes. • Choose items that you yourself would be interested in hearing, not items that you

somehow think should be included for the sake of completeness. Choose what is essentialand interesting, what you would want to know about the person.

• Define any words that you think your peers might not know and speak clearly, loudly, andslowly, so that everyone understands you. (Your presentation after all is intended morefor your classmates than for me.)

Twice students will prepare topics in groups of two. With the instructor’s permission, studentsmay also choose to prepare a topic alone. Your preparation will involve a one-page handoutalong with a readiness to speak to peers informally about the topic, without, however, readingyour hand-out. Here, too, assignments will be given on a first come, first served basis. Optionsinclude:

Student Research Topics

First Session

Meister Eckhart (religion)

Matthias Grünewald (painting)

Albrecht Dürer (painting)

Johann Sebastian Bach (music)

Baroque Churches (architecture/art history)

Johann Joachim Winckelmann (art history)

Der Pietismus (religion)

Immanuel Kant (philosophy)

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G. W. F. Hegel (philosophy)

Karl Friedrich Schinkel (architecture)

Friedrich Schleiermacher (religion)

Second Session

Ludwig Feuerbach (philosophy)

Arthur Schopenhauer (philosophy)

Franz Schubert (music)

Richard Wagner (music)

Max Weber (sociology)

Martin Heidegger (philosophy)

Bauhaus (architecture)

John Heartfield (photomontage)

Die Frankfurter Schule (philosophy)

Anselm Kiefer (painting)

Fatih Akin (film)

I take it as a given that a few contributors to German culture, such as Luther, Mozart, Beethoven,and Freud, are already known to you from other courses or from common knowledge–at least to abasic degree. If not, we can weigh alternative presentations.

Any quizzes that might take place would be brief and informal and would count toward thecategory of class contribution.

2) Short Written Contributions: 25%

For each class, students will prepare two or three brief contributions. These will always be inGerman, typed, double-spaced, and brought to class.

We will occasionally draw on them in class, and I will collect them regularly to provide you with

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feedback.

Each contribution may be as short as a single sentence. You may include questions designed toelicit discussion (that is, open-ended, questions that encourage analysis and debate) or statementsthat explore the following: an insight that you have into the work, an idea that you findcompelling or less compelling, an aspect of the work that struck you as unusually significant, acomparison with earlier passages or works, etc. I will occasionally offer you some pre-readingquestions; if so, one or more of your contributions could respond to such questions.

Please note that on the days when papers are due, no short contributions are necessary.

You will want to keep all of your contributions in a folder and in order. I may collect yourcumulative contributions or ask you to offer a self-analysis of your strengths and weaknesses,especially in terms of grammar.

3) Three Papers: 35%;

Students will write three papers, counting in sequence, 10%, 10%, and 15%. The first paper willbe approximately 500 words, the second approximately 750 words, and the third 750-1,000words. You should list at the bottom of each essay the number of words.

The first two topics will be focused on works that we have read together, although students willbe given some freedom. The third topic is more open but must be approved by me if it is on atopic other than what we have been exploring together in class; the openness of the final topicgives students an additional option to pursue their own interests.

All papers should be Times New Roman or a similar standard font, 12 point, and double spaced.

Each paper should have a title and pagination. You will want to use MLA style<http://www.mla.org/style>. (MLA stands for the Modern Language Association.) This style iswidespread in the humanities and relatively simple and user-friendly. The library has referencematerials that spell out MLA style, such as the MLA Handbook or the MLA Style Manual, andthere are short versions available on the Web. I have a few copies students may borrow uponrequest. With permission, students may choose an alternative format.

The first two papers are to be rewritten after you receive my comments and then resubmittedwithin one week of their return to you. Rewriting is an excellent strategy to improve yourcapacity for writing. The grade will be adjusted based on the revision.

The first two papers are due as printed documents at class time. The third paper should besubmitted electronically as a Word or Wordperfect file no later than midnight the day it is due.My e-mail is mroche@nd.edu. Late submissions of all papers will be downgraded a partial grade,with a further drop of a partial grade for each day that passes beyond the due date.

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4) Final Examination 20%

A final examination will allow you to show that you have been learning throughout the semester. The goals of each assignment and of all evaluation are to improve understanding andperformance. For more detailed comments on these assignments and on assessment guidelines,see below.

Logistical Information

Office: 349 Decio Hall

Office Hours: Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:00 and Fridays from 2:00 to 3:30 as well as byappointment. Impromptu meetings can also often be arranged before or after class.

Phone: (574) 631-8142 (office); (574) 302-1813 (cell).

E-mail: mroche@nd.edu; Web: http://mroche.nd.edu/

Required Works

Lessing, Nathan der Weise. Literatek. Berlin: Cornelsen Verlag, 2013. 978-3-06-062922-0Please note that I have placed on reserve a vocabulary list for this work from an out-of-printedition edited by Christoph Schweitzer. Also I have placed on reserve a sound recording of theplay, which might help you with both listening skills and interpretive understanding.

Goethe, Faust. Einfach Klassich. Ed. Diethard Lübke. Berlin: Cornelsen Verlag, 2014. This is anaccessible version of Goethe’s Faust I, with annotations for students. The text has not beenchanged, though the spelling has been modernized/standardized, as is common. The mainadjustment is that the text has been abridged. However, this is also the way in which plays areperformed; rarely does a director include every word, as it would make performances too long. Iwill be providing this text for you.

Büchner, Woyzeck. Klassische Schullektüre. Berlin: Cornelsen Verlag, 2001. 978-3-454-52050-8Please note that I have placed on reserve a vocabulary list for this work from an out-of-printedition edited by Henry Schmidt.

Other works will be available via Sakai, most often in the Readings Folder under Resources andotherwise via Library Reserves.

Recommended Works

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We will be making occasional references to European and German history. Most of you will havea basic understanding of some of the important events–the Reformation, the French Revolution,the unification of Germany in 1871, the Treaty of Versailles, World War II, etc–but for those ofyou without basic knowledge and for those of you who wish to bore deeper, I have placed threehistorical works on reserve and draw your attention to a fourth resource.

Mary Fulbrook’s A History of Germany, 1918-2008: The Divided Nation (Malden, Mass.:Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) is a good standard history of modern Germany, which I have placed onreserve.

Manfred Mai’s Deutsche Geschichte (Weinheim: Beltz & Gelberg, 2012) is readable, accessible,and ideal for your level. In addition to a print copy in the library, a recorded version of the bookis on Sakai. This also offers you a great way to practice your listening comprehension.

Hagen Schulze’s Kleine deutsche Geschichte (Munich: DTV, 2013) is a bit more advanced indetail and difficulty, but would be a good resource especially for those seeking to delve deeper.

In addition, you will find good basic materials on Germany history (in German and in English) atthe Tatsachen über Deutschland Website:http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/home1.html

Calendar of Classes and Readings

Please note that in some cases, such as most of the sessions on poetry, I have assigned moreworks than we could possibly discuss in class. This practice will give you a broader context intoan author or movement. In most cases I will either designate in advance the work or works onwhich we will focus our collective discussion, or I will ask you to identify the works that youthink we should discuss most intensely.

In just a few cases additional assignments will be given, for example, when we do Faust, I willalso ask you to view some scenes from the most famous Faust performance ever.

August 26, 2015 Orientation

Barock

August 28, 2015 Andreas Gryphius, “Es ist alles eitel”; “Menschliches Elende”; “Ebenbildunseres Lebens”; “Abend”; “Tränen des Vaterlandes / Anno 1636”;“Einsamkeit”; Brockes, “Kirschblüte bei der Nacht”

Aufklärung

August 31, 2015 Lessing, Nathan der Weise, 15-44

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September 2, 2015 Lessing, Nathan der Weise, 44-70

September 4, 2015 Lessing, Nathan der Weise, 70-92

September 7, 2015 Lessing, Nathan der Weise, 92-120

September 9, 2015 Lessing, Nathan der Weise, 120-146

September 11, 2015 Lessing, Nathan der Weise, 146-172

Sturm und Drang, Klassik und Romantik

September 14, 2015 Faust, 1-39

September 16, 2015 Faust, 40-76

September 18, 2015 Faust, 77-110

September 21, 2015 Goethe, “Willkommen und Abschied”; “Prometheus”; “Ganymed”; “EinGleiches”; “Erlkönig”; “Das Göttliche”; “Poetische Erdichtung undWahrheit”; “Natur und Kunst”; “Eins und Alles”

September 23, 2015 Schiller, Briefe über die Ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen (SechsterBrief); “Die Worte des Glaubens”: “Die Worte des Wahns”

Paper no. 1 is due today, September 23.

September 25, 2015 Schiller, “An die Freude”; Beethoven, 9. Sinfonie

September 28, 2015 Hölderlin, “Die Eichbäume”; “Hyperions Schicksalslied”; “An dieDeutschen”; “Heidelberg”; “Hälfte des Lebens”

September 30, 2015 Novalis, Christenheit oder Europa

October 2, 2015 Student-Led Session

October 5, 2015 “Germany’s Confrontation with the Holocaust in a Global Context,”Gallery talk with Stuart Taberner of the University of Leeds. Class will beheld in the Great Hall of O’Shaughnessy. Prof. Taberner will focus on theeditorial and curatorial decisions that go into mounting a Holocaustexhibition.

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Review a brief excerpt from Ken Burns, The Warhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyIoUi5XQGsand familiarize yourself with at least three of the following, so as to beprepared to ask one or two engaging questions at the session:StolpersteineUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum Denkmal zur Erinnerung an die BücherverbrennungJüdisches Museum Berlin Glaskubus: Mahnmal für die jüdischen Opfer des Nationalsozialismus Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas

October 7, 2015 Selected Paintings from Capar David Friedrich; Kleist, “Empfindungenvor Friedrichs Seelandschaft”; Eichendorff, “Schläft ein Lied”;“Sehnsucht”; “Mondnacht”

October 9, 2015 Student Research I

October 12, 2015 Review/Overview/Preview

Vormärz

October 14, 2015 Heine, “Das Fräulein stand am Meere”; “Fragen”; “Nachtgedanken”;“Traum und Leben”; “Die schlesischen Weber”; “Doktrin”

October 16, 2015 Heine, Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen, Caput I-IV; “Bei desNachtwächters Ankunft zu Paris”; “Zur Beruhigung”

October 19, 2015 Fall Break

October 21, 2015 Fall Break

October 23, 2015 Fall Break

October 26, 2015 Büchner, Woyzeck

October 28, 2015 Büchner, Woyzeck

Die Schule des Verdachts

October 30, 2015 Marx, “Die entfremdete Arbeit”; “Geld”; “Zur Kritik der HegelschenRechtsphilosophie” (excerpt); “Thesen über Feuerbach” (excerpt)

Paper no. 2 is due today, October 30.

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November 2, 2015 Alban Berg, Wozzeck

November 4, 2015 Nietzsche, Götzen-Dämmerung oder Wie man mit dem Hammerphilosophiert (“Wie die ‘wahre Welt’ endlich zur Fabel wurde. Geschichteeines Irrtums”); Ecce Homo (excerpts from “Warum ich so klug bin” and“Warum ich ein Schicksal bin”); Der Antichrist. Fluch auf dasChristentum (no. 7); Der Nachlass (excerpt)

Expressionismus, Neue Sachlichkeit, Weimarer Republik

November 6, 2015 Lasker-Schüler, “Weltende”; Jakob van Hoddis, “Weltende”; GeorgHeym, “Die Stadt” and “Der Gott der Stadt”; Alfred Lichtenstein, “DieDämmerung” and “Der Morgen”; Benn, “Mann und Frau gehen durch dieKrebsbaracke” and “Kleine Aster”

November 9, 2015 Selected Artworks from Käthe Kollwitz, Emil Nolde, Franz Marc, ErnstLudwig Kirchner, Ludwig Meidner, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, andGeorge Grosz

November 11, 2015 Expressionist Prints at the Snite Museum. Class will meet in the SniteMuseum with Academic Curator Bridget Hoyt

November 13, 2015 Kafka, “Vor dem Gesetz”; “Der Kübelreiter”; and “Eine kaiserlicheBotschaft”

November 16, 2015 Lang, M (118 minutes)

November 18, 2015 Brecht, “3. –aber Neuerungen!” from “Anmerkungen zur Oper ‘Aufstiegund Fall der Stadt Mahagonny’”; selected songs from the 1930performance of Die Dreigroschenoper; “Erinnerung an die Marie A.” and“Der Radwechsel”

National Socialism

November 20, 2015 Brecht, Furcht und Elend des dritten Reiches (“Rechtsfindung”; “Diejüdische Frau”; “Der Spitzel”)

November 23, 2015 Langgässer, “Saisonbeginn” and Mann, “Die Lager”

November 25, 2015 Thanksgiving Break

November 27, 2015 Thanksgiving Break

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November 30, 2015 Student Research II

December 2, 2015 Benn, “Verlorenes Ich” and “Reisen”

Postwar Germany

December 4, 2015 Fassbinder, Die Ehe der Maria Braun (120 minutes)

December 7, 2015 Student Choice

December 9, 2015 Review and Overview

Final papers are due at midnight on December 9.

Please note that two sessions are set for review and one session is tentatively designated asstudent choice. The default would be for students to chose a topic from the list below. However,if the reading is at some point too complex linguistically or thematically, we can use the studentchoice session to extend the time devoted to a given topic.

If we do move through the syllabus as sketched, students will have an opportunity to vote on oneadditional topic. Choices, which draw on items that almost made it into the syllabus, include thefollowing:

Theology: a sermon or two by the medieval German mystic Meister Eckhart; a speechembodying a Romantic conception of religion by the great Protestant theologian FriedrichSchleiermacher; or an excerpt from or interview with Pope Emeritus Benedikt.

Philosophy: an essay on Enlightenment by Immanuel Kant; an essay or excerpt of an essay fromthe period of the founding of the modern German university, by Humboldt or Fichte; an excerptfrom the German idealist philosopher G.W. F. Hegel; an excerpt from arguably the best known20 -century German philosopher Martin Heidegger; an essay by the Jewish-German philosopherth

Hans Jonas on the concept of God after Auschwitz (this would need to consume two sessions, soalso the wrap-up, which we could schedule during the reading period); or an essay or excerpt byNotre Dame’s own Vittorio Hösle.

Literature: a selection of rhyming couplets by the Catholic Baroque mystic Angelus Silesius; aRomantic tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann (this would need to consume two sessions, so also the wrap-up, which we could schedule during the reading period); poetry by two eminent figures of thepost-Romantic Biedermeier period, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff and Eduard Mörike; poetry bythe greatest German Catholic writer, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and one of the most translatedpoets of the German-speaking world, Rainer Maria Rilke; a brief philosophical essay on themedieval and modern world embedded in a novel by the Austrian writer Hermann Broch; theopening pages of a famous novel by Germany’s greatest modern writer Thomas Mann; one or

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two immediate postwar poems, including Celan’s famous “Todesfuge”; Lieder by the well-known folksinger/songwriter Wolf Bierman, who was expelled from the GDR; two perceptiveand amusing essays by the Japanese-German contemporary writer Yoko Tawada; or poetryselections by the contemporary Catholic poet Ludwig Steinherr.

Film: Leni Riefensthal’s Nazi propaganda film Der Triumph des Willens or Florian Henckel vonDonnersmarck’s film about the GDR, Das Leben der Anderen.

Of course if there is a preference to linger longer with one of our already assigned works, this listwill simply provide you with ideas for future engagement and so reinforce one of the learninggoals for the course, your continuing interest in the great works of German literature and culture.

Sakai

I have placed some materials on Sakai and will continue to do so on an occasional basis.

Under Resources, you will find the following folders:

Readings: These will include the readings for almost all of the classes. Any readings that you donot find in the Readings Folder on Sakai or in the three books, you will find under ReserveReading. I will try to alert you to these exceptions. I will not alert you when I add readings toeither destination unless they are close to the date of their being assigned.

Study Questions: These will include pre-reading questions to help guide your thinking as youread the works. As I post study questions, you will be notified.

Learning Resources: These will include helpful materials. As these are added, you will benotified. The first file, which has already been posted, is called Sachwörterbuch zur deutschenLiteratur and gives you some basic concepts that will arise in our various discussions; it will alsobe useful to you in future semesters.

The two films we will be viewing, by Lang and Fassbinder, are currently available on Sakai, via“Library Reserves.” Once you click the title and accept the terms, the video will play in your webbrowser. You need to ensure that you have the Quicktime Video plugin installed. OITrecommends that you use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to ensure compatibility. In theunlikely event that you have issues with streaming videos, you can always use a computer in oneof the labs on campus.

I have bought at least one extra copy of each DVD (or Blueray). If you wish, I can hand out acopy in class, and you can view the film at a time or at times you agree upon among yourselves.Students in previous semesters have sometimes enjoyed the collective screenings, in some casesmultiple viewing sessions with different groups of students.

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Reference Materials, including Reserve Books

In terms of orientation to the authors, the best simple introductions to topics and writers can befound in the first floor reference area of the library, in the PT section. There you will find, forexample, the Encyclopedia of German Literature, the Oxford Companion to German Literature,the Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturgeschichte, and other such works, which have entries ontopics, authors, and works.

A meaningful avenue for further reading might well involve more primary reading thansecondary reading, that is, additional works by the authors we are reading instead of secondaryworks about them. Still, secondary works can be useful for an initial orientation and are essentialfor more advanced scholarly work.

As you explore further, you will discover various series, and it may be helpful to note them:• Rowohlt offers a series of biographies (rororo), with ample pictures and quotations. • Reclam offers a series of notes and documents (Erläuterungen und Dokumente) on most

major works of German literature. These include supplemental materials, usuallyconcerning background and reception.

• Beck offers introductions to major authors, with a biography and an overview.• Metzler offers a series (Sammlung Metzler) with biography and references to secondary

literature, by work.• Metzler Handbücher offer chapters on major issues and works. • Twayne and Ungar offer series in English, with introductory material, though these tend

to be older.

Note that some of our texts also include supplementary orientation materials. Each work we areexploring has a wealth of secondary literature, which is best uncovered through print orelectronic searches. If you need guidance, just let me know.

Guides to Further Resources

A useful overview of sources and types of sources for advanced study of German literature isCarsten Zelle, Kurze Bücherkunde für Literaturwissenschaftler (Münich: Francke, 1998).Hansjürgen Blinn’s Informationshandbuch Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft (Frankfurt: Fischer,1990) can guide you to archives for various authors; this could be relevant for students seekinggrants to do research in Germany.

Policy on Attendance

One unexcused absence will not affect your grade in any way. A second or third unexcusedabsence will be integrated into your class contribution grade, as will any recurring problems withlate arrivals. A fourth unexcused absence will lead to the reduction of the final grade by onepartial unit, for example, from a B to a B-. A fifth unexcused absence will lead to the reduction

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of the final grade by two partial units, for example, from a B to a C+. A sixth unexcused absencewill lead to the reduction of the final grade by four partial units, for example, from a B to a C-.Seven unexcused absences will lead to failure of the course.

Personal absences and non-acute medical conditions (such as an ordinary cold or a headache) donot represent excused absences; however, acute medical conditions or contagious medicalconditions are excused but require documentation, as is spelled out in the Academic Articles.Excused absences for medical or other reasons will not affect your grade in any way.

If you are ever absent, be it excused or unexcused, it is your responsibility to find out from acolleague what you missed.

Grading

Grading Scale for the University of Notre Dame

See http://registrar.nd.edu/gradingsystems.pdf

Letter Grade Point Value Description Explanatory Comments

A 4 Truly Exceptional Work meets or exceedsthe highest expectationsfor the course.

A- 3.667 Outstanding Superior work in all areasof the course.

B+ 3.333 Very Good Superior work in mostareas of the course.

B 3.000 Good Solid work across theboard.

B- 2.667 More than Acceptable More than acceptable, butfalls short of solid work.

C+ 2.333 Acceptable: Meets AllBasic Standards

Work meets all the basicrequirements andstandards for the course.

C 2.000 Acceptable: Meets Most Basic Standards

Work meets most of thebasic requirements andstandards in several areas.

C- 1.667 Acceptable: MeetsSome Basic Standards

While acceptable, workfalls short of meetingbasic standards in severalareas.

D 1.000 Minimally Passing Work just over thethreshold of acceptability.

F 0 Failure Unacceptable

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performance.

Academic Code of Honor

This course will be conducted in accordance with Notre Dame’s Academic Code of Honor, whichstipulates: “As a member of the Notre Dame community, I will not participate in or tolerateacademic dishonesty ... The pledge to uphold the Academic Code of Honor includes anunderstanding that a student’s submitted work, graded or ungraded – examinations, draft copies,papers, homework assignments, extra credit work, etc. – must be his or her own.” The code isavailable at http://honorcode.nd.edu/. Information on citing sources and avoiding plagiarism isavailable at https://library.nd.edu/help/plagiarism.shtml

Students are encouraged to discuss readings and films with one another outside of class andshould feel free to discuss assignments (including papers) with one another, but the source of allideas must be revealed fully and honestly. Whenever information or insights are obtained fromsecondary works or Web sources, students should cite their sources. Also, if you talk about thematerial with a friend, and that person suggests an idea, you should formally acknowledge thatperson’s idea if you use it in your paper. If an idea is presented in class discussion, and you wishto reuse it in your paper, you should also acknowledge the source of this idea. Anyunacknowledged help will be considered a violation of the honor code. The style and grammar ofyour papers should be entirely your own. The only exceptions would be assistance provided byme. Peer tutors would be useful to you to help you with readings or for content-drivenconversations to help you improve your oral skills and your knowledge, but the peer tutorsshould not assist you with your papers.

In preparing for an exam, you may form study groups and therefore may collaborate in advanceof the exam, but not of course during the exam.

Criteria for Grading Class Contribution

Criteria for a Grade of B

The student ...

prepares well for each class by completing all assignments; rereading or reviewing, whenappropriate; and making appropriate notes;

does not miss classes for any unexcused reasons and comes to each class on time; makes daily contributions that show thorough familiarity with the assigned reading and

thoughtful reflection on the material;asks good, searching questions that spark and advance discussion;is able to analyze and recognize flaws and mistakes when sample sentences are given;is able to answer difficult questions;listens well and exhibits by facial expressions and body posture the active art of listening;

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participates in the give-and-take of discussion, for example, by offering initial comments, askingclarifying questions of other students, offering evidence to support positions, or proposingalternative perspectives;

is willing to engage an issue from multiple points of view;is able to make connections across works;can recognize strengths and weaknesses in an argument;demonstrates the capacity to think on his or her feet;is more interested in the group dynamic of truth seeking through dialogue than in demonstrating

his or her own excellence;exhibits respect, tact, and diplomacy in debate with others.

The student is able to express his or her thoughts clearly and with good pronunciation, so thateveryone understands. Only occasionally does the student make basic grammatical errors. Thestudent exhibits good progress in accuracy and fluency over the course of the semester.

Criteria for a Grade of A

The student does all of the above and ...

regularly takes a leadership role in discussions through quality and quantity of contributions;exhibits intellectual hospitality, effectively encouraging the participation of others and

successfully drawing good ideas out of others;gives unusually deep and rich responses to interpretive and searching questions;consistently links the discussion to earlier works and themes;asks fascinating and unexpected questions;is forthcoming with excellent insights and questions.

The student speaks exceptionally well, clearly speaking in such a way as to be understood byothers. The student has excellent pronunciation and exhibits very few basic grammatical errors.The student progresses in accuracy and fluency over the course of the semester.

Criteria for a Grade of C

The student ...

comes prepared to class;occasionally contributes isolated, but thoughtful, comments to the discussion;makes comments that are backed with evidence;discerns the difference between more relevant and less relevant comments;exhibits respect for others and treats all persons with dignity.

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The student is able to make him or herself understood, although grammatical errors andvocabulary gaps are frequent; the student exhibits only modest progress in the capacity for oralexpression.

Criteria for a Grade of D

The student ...

comes to class, but rarely contributes to the discussion;has difficulties contributing to the flow of the conversation;has difficulty giving evidence for his or her claims.

The student’s speech is riddled with errors and rarely shows progress or improvement.

Criteria for a Grade of F

The student ...

does not speak at all or makes comments that exhibit a lack of preparation;exhibits little or no respect for the class. The student’s speech is riddled with errors and rarely shows progress or improvement.

Criteria for Grading Short Written Contributions

Criteria for a Grade of B

The student ...

prepares comments and/or questions in advance of each class and according to the guidelines;makes contributions that show thorough familiarity with the assigned material and thoughtful

reflection on it;makes insightful observations on the works;is willing to engage an issue from multiple points of view;is able to make connections across the works of the semester;asks good, searching questions;offers compelling analyses;draws interesting comparisons;can recognize strengths and weaknesses in an argument;is able to marshal evidence in favor of a position.

The student writes in a language that is understandable, varying in structure, and avoids a highnumber of grammatical and stylistic errors, especially those that are basic in nature or have been

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discussed in class. The student exhibits, where necessary, increasing consistency andimprovement in writing.

Across time the student receives more check pluses than checks.

Criteria for a Grade of A

The student does all of the above and ...

offers unusually rich and intelligent observations;consistently links the discussion to earlier works and themes as well as issues of greater

significance;asks fascinating and unexpected questions;gives evidence of a searching mind, the mind of a developing intellectual.

The student exhibits a developing capacity for smooth and interesting writing, with onlyoccasional mistakes.

The student almost always receives a check plus. Criteria for a Grade of C

The student ...

contributes regularly and conscientiously, but for the most part makes observations and asksquestions that fall below the criteria for a B grade.

The student exhibits a fair control of grammatical structures, but limited variation in sentencestructure. One sees little use of new or complex vocabulary. Spelling is poor. The contributionshave far too many errors that should not be surfacing at this stage.

The student will have received very few check pluses and is likely to have received some checkminuses.

Criteria for a Grade of D

The student ...

contributes most of the time but still misses some sessions;exhibits basic knowledge of the material;makes primarily pedestrian comments.

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The student exhibits poor control of grammatical structures and little variation in sentencestructure. Problems in grammar, spelling, or punctuation interfere with the writer’s capacity tocommunicate.

The student will generally have received mainly checks and check minuses.

Criteria for a Grade of F

The student ...

frequently fails to contribute to the discussions;contributes comments that show a lack of knowledge of the material;makes observations that are unhelpful in advancing the discussion or irrelevant.

The student exhibits poor control of grammatical structures and little variation in sentencestructure. Problems in grammar, spelling, or punctuation interfere with the writer’s capacity tocommunicate.

The student will have received few, if any, check pluses and a very high number of checkminuses.

Criteria for Grading Papers

Criteria for a Grade of B

Clarity

The paper presents a clear thesis.

Complexity

Though clear, the thesis is also complex and challenging, not simplistic. Multiple points of vieware engaged, and the limits of one’s own interpretation are acknowledged, either through theavoidance of overreaching or through the refutation of alternative arguments. The essayintegrates a variety of connected themes and exhibits a curious mind at work.

Structure

The title is effective. The introduction is inviting and compelling, appropriate and succinct. Theessay is structured logically and coherently, with good analyses. The overall outline ororganization makes sense, and the paragraphs flow appropriately, one to the other. Theconclusion is powerful.

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Evidence

Appropriate evidence is given for the paper’s claims, for example, evidence from the work beinginterpreted, historical information, or a chain of abstract arguments. The analytical framework isstrong and convincing.

Independence

The paper does not simply restate the obvious or repeat what others have said, but builds on whatis known to exhibit the student’s own thinking about the topic. The writer avoids simplyrepeating plot structures or paraphrasing the ideas of others. The student exhibits some level ofindependence and a new perspective.

Style

The essay exhibits good usage and variety of vocabulary, displays solid control of grammaticalstructures, with some variation in sentence structure, and the number of mistakes is modest, mostof them being understandable at this level and not basic mistakes. As the semester advances,fewer mistakes occur.

Criteria for a Grade of A

The paper integrates the expectations of a B grade, but is in addition highly effective incommunicating meaningful ideas and unusually engaging. The paper is thoughtful, deep,creative, and far-reaching in its analysis and evidence.

The language exhibits a developing capacity for smooth and sophisticated writing, and mistakesare very few in number.

Criteria for a Grade of C

The thesis of the paper is clear, and the paper takes a stand on a complex issue. The writerexhibits some competence in exploring the subject. Most of the essay is well-organized, and thelogic is for the most part clear and coherent. Some evidence is given for the points made in theessay. The argument is sustained but not imaginative or complex. The paper exhibits clearweaknesses; these might include, for example, plot summary, simplicity, repetition, falseassumptions, a derivative quality, or avoidance of alternative perspectives that should beconsidered. The writer barely goes beyond paraphrase. While some of the criteria for a B grademay have been fulfilled, a majority has not.

Errors include both more complex areas of advanced writing as well as many basic mistakes thatshould not be occurring at the 30000-level. Examples of basic errors that occur frequently at theC-level involve gender, case, adjective endings, verb conjugations, appropriate helping verbs,

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subject-verb agreement, word order, and punctuation, that is, items that students should be ableto control, at the very least by consulting dictionaries and an editing check list.

Criteria for a Grade of D

The thesis of the paper is missing, unclear, or overly simple. The writer tends toward paraphrase. The paper includes some arguments, but counter-arguments are not considered in any seriousway or are misconstrued. The essay’s structure is not readily apparent. Ideas are present but arenot developed with details or examples. Paragraphs are poorly constructed and contain littlesupporting detail.

Sentences are riddled with grammatical mistakes.

Criteria for a Grade of F

The assignment is not completed or is completed in a format that is clearly substandard. Theessay exhibits little, if any, preparatory reflection or study. It contains no serious ideas and lacksan argument as well as supporting evidence. The essay is difficult to read or comprehend. Nomeaningful structure is discernible.

Problems in grammar, spelling, or punctuation interfere with the writer’s capacity tocommunicate.

Writing in German

Dictionary

Students will want to have a print or electronic dictionary of some kind, ideally a German-German dictionary for daily use, such as Langenscheidt, Pons, or Wahrig. Pons tends to be toobasic even by the fourth semester. Wahrig is very advanced, more a dictionary for native andnear-native speakers. I prefer the Langenscheidt dictionary for college students, eitherLangenscheidts Großwörterbuch. Deutsch als Fremdsprache (which you will find in the Centerfor Languages and Cultures, 329 DeBartolo Hall) or Hans Wellmann’s and Dieter Götz’sLangenscheidt Taschenwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache: Einsprachig Deutsch. Berlin:Langenscheidt, 2009. (978-3468490446). The latter is less expensive. A German-Germandictionary will do wonders to help you advance in the language.

Also various Websites contain useful dictionaries. Helpful online German-German dictionariesare <http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/> and especially <http://www.duden.de/>.

I have found the following German-English and English-German dictionary to be useful:<http://www.dict.cc/>. It is also available as an app.

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Grammar Books

The standard reference work for your German is Duden. You might find at this level two worksespecially useful, volume 2 (Das Stilwörterbuch) and volume 4 (Die Grammatik).

If you have a grammar still from your earlier classes, you may need to consult it. If not, ouradvanced composition and conversation classes have used the following three books:

German in Review, by Kimberly Sparks and Van Horn Vail. Now in its fourth edition.

Handbuch zur Deutschen Grammatik, by Jamie Rankin and Larry Wells. Now in its fifth edition.

Deutsche Wiederholungsgrammatik: A Morpho-Syntactic Review of German, by Frank E.Donahue.

Also very good is an introductory textbook from an earlier era that focused more on grammarthan do today’s textbooks: German: A Structural Approach, by Walter Lohnes and F.W.Strothmann. It went through three editions.

The library has copies of all of the above.

Websites

There are also Websites available for your work in German, for example:

German Language Lab: http://german.about.com/library/blgerlab.htmVarious materials of potential interest, including material on pronunciation and on Germansounds.

Cactus 2000. German Conjugation: http://conjd.cactus2000.de/index.en.phpA seemingly pedestrian site that contains the principal parts of German verbs. Very user friendly.

German Verb Conjugator: http://www.verbix.com/languages/german.shtmlSimilar to the previous site in offering conjugations of German verbs.

Internet Handbook of German Grammar: http://www.travlang.com/languages/german/ihgg/A reference grammar on the Web.

Vocabulary: http://lw.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/vokabeln/index.htmlSome useful tips and resources on vocabulary. It includes a list of the ca. 200 most frequentlyused German words: http://lw.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/vokabeln/frequent_words.html.

Top Twenty German Verbs: http://german.about.com/library/almanac/blalm_vrb.htm.

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The site contains a further link to the top fifty German verbs.

Verb Conjugation: http://www.verbformen.de/konjugation/A site that allows you to check the conjugation of German verbs.

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